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Otters Snacking on the Bank

A sunny Sunday afternoon seems like a good time to go for a stroll. It was not supposed to be a wildlife photo trip. I did have the little M6 with me in my pocket, though, and, since the 55-200 is pretty small, I took that along too. I was rather glad I did too as, while walking along the river, we saw a family that were peering in to the river. There were ripples on the surface so we stopped to see what they had seen, Soon we could see the outline of a pair of otters swimming about. We watched for a short while and were about to move on when they swam down towards us and climbed out on to the bank.

One of them had caught a fish – a pretty big one in comparison to the otter itself. It started crunching noisily in to the meal while the other otter seemingly stood guard. They were on the bank for ages so we watched them for a while and then left them to enjoy their lunch. A short distance further along we came across a couple watching another otter so I guess this stretch of the Sammammish is pretty popular with otters!

Low Sun on the Light Aircraft

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While waiting for the UPS 747, there was a bit of light aircraft traffic in to Paine Field. With nice low sun, I wasn’t going to ignore them. They all looked nice enough but I was particularly impressed with a Cirrus that came in sporting a custom paint finish. It looked particularly nice.

Pretty Mountain Backdrop

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My effort to shoot an arriving A350 at SeaTac provided a secondary benefit. The majority of arriving aircraft land on the outer runway. This is further away and also has a threshold further up the field. This means the aircraft are higher up on the approach. On a clear winter’s day, the planes have the backdrop of the snow covered Olympic mountain range. They were a bit far away but did provide a rather scenic view.

Sunbathing Cormorant

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I had finished up a shoot and was driving back towards home but decided to divert to Kenmore. The evening light was looking good and I thought some floatplanes might be returning to base. By the time I got to Kenmore, it must have too late as I didn’t see any planes. However, there was a cormorant sitting on one of the posts near the end of the jetty. As the sun set, he was stretching out his wings to gather maximum warmth. How could I resist yet another cormorant shot?

UPS Delivered from the Paintshop

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A sunny and cold winter day provides nice light and an afternoon arrival of a jet at Paine Field from the paint facility in Portland was enough to tempt me out. UPS is the primary recipient of 747-8F jets these days and it was another of their getting close to delivery. It was approaching from the south so I was at the windsock with a few other locals. They flew a touch and go before making a full stop landing so I was able to try two different positions to get the landing. Conditions were really nice for getting a shot of a shiny new plane.

Still Seem to be Missing Some Engines Here!

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My Renton visit also allowed me to have a look around the production aircraft out on the flight line or in the factory areas. The shortage of engines has been a concern which I wrote about last year and which was supposed to be fixed by the year end. Judging by how many of these planes are still carrying ballast rather than engines, I guess things are still a bit behind schedule. Then again, with what has happened since, maybe the cost of accepting some engines is not something Boeing wants…

Sammammish River Trail

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I have biked along the Sammammish River trail on a number of occasions and it seemed like it would be a good place to take a walk and enjoy the scenery at a more leisurely pace. A sunny Sunday afternoon provided the perfect time so we headed out. We clearly were not the only ones with such an idea as the weather had attracted tons of people to the river. Fortunately, it is a big trail so it wasn’t too crowded even if it was popular.

It is a nice stretch of river and sufficiently far from the road in most areas to provide a quiet environment to stroll along. All of the people mean it is a bit less peaceful but it is still a nice place to be. The river is heading pretty directly from Redmond to Woodinville but it does have some gentle bends to provide a little variety in the scene. Just walk along and look for wildlife – more of which will come soon!

Delta A350 In to SeaTac

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Delta has replaced the 767 on the Narita run with the A350. It arrives in to SeaTac in the morning and SeaTac early arrivals from the south do not provide good opportunities for photography. I had an idea for a possible place to try so headed out on a sunny Sunday (very cold) morning. It turned out my chosen spot was a non-starter so now I was looking for an alternative and rapidly. I ended up a little further away than was ideal and with a slightly obscured view. The cold played to my advantage though. Heat haze is probably usually a big problem at this spot but, on this occasion, I could get away with it.

While obscured, I had some views of the approach path and also close to the touchdown zone. Only the heavy jets land on the inner runway so I didn’t have much chance to practice what would happen. Only one heavy came in beforehand – a Korean Air 777 – and this showed me I need to change my plan a little. Then I just had to hope things would work out for the A350. It wasn’t great but it worked out okay and I was pleased to come away with some shots.

COPA Max Touch and Go

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The 737 flight tests involve a departure from Renton and arrival at Boeing Field from which all further flying takes place. However, on some flights, approaches are made to Paine Field. One COPA 737 Max made such an approach while I was there. I was at the departure end of the field and, while sometimes they will land and back taxi before taking off again, this time it was a go around. Consequently, they were quite high by the time they passed me. Still worthy of a few shots, though.

Bunnies Evade the Kids

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I had stopped off by Lake Washington to get some late afternoon photos and, as I walked back up to the parking lot, a couple of rabbits were snacking along the path. Since the camera was still out, I figured I would get some quick shots. Unfortunately, a family was following me up the trail and the kids spotted the rabbits. Being young kids, their instinct was to run to the rabbits – it won’t surprise you to know that the rabbits did not hang around to see if their intentions were good. I did get a couple of shots before they had vanished.